In his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul urged praying for “all those in authority, that we may have peaceful and quiet lives ….”
On a frigid Saturday morning, local officials, pastors and community residents gathered at Emmanuel Episcopal Church to do just that.
“We are a community of faith; we are a community of hope,” said Mayor Ed Burtner, as he opened Clark County’s fifth Community Prayer Service.
Burtner started the annual event to lift up in prayer those whom he felt needed support.
This year, Burtner, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, prayed for those serving in the military, their families and veterans. He mentioned a front-page newspaper article he had read that morning about a Marine who committed suicide, and said that many return from war “mangled” in mind as well as body.
He included in his prayer the Winchester family of Marine Sgt. James Hunter, who died in Afghanistan last year, and asked for prayer for 1st Lt. Josh Trimble of Winchester, who is being deployed to the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
